Once Upon a Time
by baby gyrl
Summary: When Matt is asked to tell his story, he does. In spades. Whammy era story, Matt, Mello, Near friendship no pairings.
1. Prologue

Once Upon A Time

Summary: When Matt is asked to tell his story, he does. In spades. Whammy Era story, no pairings, slightly AU

Prologue

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This is not a nice story. This isn't a fairy tale that starts with "Once upon a time" and ends in "Happily ever after." There are no knights in shining armor and the damsels can take care of themselves just fine. This is a story of life, of love, and of humanity. This is a tale of three boys who, despite all odds and against all obstacles, retained their bond to each other, no matter what else they lost. This is the story of a boy becoming a monster to save the world from a worse monster. This is the story of a boy sacrificing his humanity to save the world. And this is the story of a boy trying to balance between justice and vengeance, light and dark, good and evil. This is our story.

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A/N: Short intro, but the first chapter will be up shortly. This is my first attempt at a Death Note Story, and I'm a little leery about breaking into a new fandom. Feel free to leave your opinion about how I'm doing. Good, bad, so-so?


	2. Chapter 1

Once Upon A Time

Chapter 1: The Beginning

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Once upon a time in a kingdom far, far away… Ha. I told you this wasn't that kind of story. Shit, I don't even know where the beginning is, and whatever the end is, it won't be happy. Our story begins with me. I guess the true beginning would be before Whammy's. But there was no before Whammy's for me. Not that I remember, anyway. I mean, I vaguely remember a woman humming a lullaby – my mother, I think – but nothing definitive. I grew up in Whammy's, ever since I can remember. I can remember L, and A and B, and I'm the only Second Generation Whammy Kid who was around then. I remember escaping from the nursery where they put me and going into the library where the first three Successors were. I remember B being creepy as hell even then, and A being detached. L, though, L was different then. L would pick me up and put me on his lap and read to me as he studied. I think he just liked to hear the sound of his own voice though. I picked up more than he probably expected me too, and before he left I think I was the closest thing he had to a friend.

Whammy was around a lot more, back then, but he was still absent quite a bit with his work as an inventor. He was also traveling a lot and always dropping kids off here. I guess, then that we weren't strictly second generation, but that's how we thought of ourselves: as the second generation, the possible heirs to L's title as greatest detective. That was the goal even for the first generation, but there was no title to take up, just to be "the best". There were three Successors in the First Generation, A who broke under the pressure and killed himself, B who broke under the pressure and tried to kill everyone else, and L who became socially detached and unable to relate to people on a personal level. The L I knew in the House liked his privacy, but he wasn't as detached as he became after he left to take up the mantle of "The Great Detective L."

But this isn't the First Generation's story, this is our story. And so the story really starts when Near came to the House. I was five, and had been out of the nursery and in a room of my own for about a year at that point. I had just woken up and was getting dressed to go down to breakfast when there was a knock at my door.

I wasn't a punk who had something to prove to the world yet, so I simply answered "Come in."

The door opened, and Whammy stood in the doorway, respecting my space. I didn't have a problem with touch like some of the kids did, but I did like my space. I liked to be able to escape if I had to. I'm not sure if that was left over from before or if it had been learned here, but it was there. Saved my life a couple times, later on though, so I'm not complaining. I guess growing up in an orphanage where we were trained to become detectives, assassins, secret government agents and the like, a healthy drop of paranoia isn't necessarily a bad thing.

"Good morning, Matt. How did you sleep?" The grandfatherly man asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Not well. I woke up at about two because someone was yelling. How was your flight, sir?" I asked respectfully. Say what you want about the place, Whammy's taught you manners. Just because Mello and B decided not to use them, doesn't mean they didn't have manners.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Matt. I'm afraid that that was my fault. I brought a new boy to the house and he hasn't adjusted well to the changing situation." Whammy looked uneasy then, as if I wasn't going to like what he had to say next. "The new boy is just your age, actually, and I wonder if you would mind helping him get adjusted?"

I thought about that. Helping him get adjusted? What would that mean? Talking to him and being his friend? I could do that. But then I remembered something that L had said. "Never trust that you know everything about a situation. Make sure that before you agree to something you know exactly what you are going into." So I asked him, "What exactly do you want me to do to help him adjust, sir?"

Yep, he definitely looked nervous now. "I was hoping that you could share your room with him. He came from a large family with four older sisters and I don't think he's used to being alone. We want to make his transition as smooth as possible."

I felt my mouth open in astonishment. That's what he was worried about? That I wouldn't want to share my room? Well, thinking about how B threw a fit when Roger, Whammy's second-in-command, tried to put a new boy in his room, it made sense to approach this with caution. "That's fine, sir. I was actually a little lonely by myself, but with only the girls close in age, I understood that I got my own room." I paused, actually thinking about what having a roommate meant. "Can he look after himself? You know how I like everything neat."

"I don't know, Matt. I only just met him yesterday. Here's what we'll do. Let's try this out for a week or so, and if it doesn't work out, then we'll put him in the Green Room down the hall. All right?"

I let my mind free as I thought about that. A probation period to see if we could handle rooming together? That sounded fine. "That sounds fine, sir," I voiced my opinion. I knew if it didn't work out, staff wouldn't make us room together, but I was willing to give it a shot. "When do I get to meet my roommate?"

Whammy sighed, and I was struck by how old he looked. I mean, I knew he was old, but I never saw him as old until then. "He should be here when you return from breakfast." I nodded and went down to breakfast.

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A/N: So... Who is Matt's new roommate? Near or Mello? And how will they get along? The second chapter should be up next week.


	3. Chapter 2

Once Upon A Time

Chapter 2: New Roommate

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When I came back from breakfast, I almost didn't recognize my room. There was another bed along the exterior wall and another bookshelf, desk, and set of drawers. In short, the furniture had been duplicated and set up to mirror mine. That wasn't what shook me though. What stopped me in the doorway was the fact that the room was trashed. The bed, _my bed_, I corrected mentally, which I had made before breakfast, was bare, with the blankets and sheets on the floor in a heap. The books on my bookshelf had been pulled onto the floor, and I saw some stray pages that had been torn out fluttering in the breeze that the open window brought in. The drawers that held my clothes were open with clothes hanging out and on the floor. My desk was clear since I was still young enough that I was working out of workbooks that were kept in the classrooms, but the pens had been uncapped and lay on the desk haphazardly. In stark contrast, the other side of the room was completely clean, with a boy sitting on the bed staring at me. No, glaring at me. Like I was somehow to blame for the mess.

After about two minutes of standing dumbfounded in the doorway, I shook myself back to reality and stepped through the threshold. I ignored the other boy and started cleaning up. As I was putting my clothes back in the drawers, I decided that it was time to introduce myself. "Welcome. I guess you're my new roommate? I'm Matt." I paused and then decided something else needed to be addressed. "And I like to keep my stuff clean. If you want to throw a fit, then throw around your stuff. But all my stuff is nice and neat and I would like to keep it that way."

I heard the boy moving and I wondered what he was doing. "They called me Near. My name isn't Near. It's Nate. Nate River. I won't answer to Near, I won't." His voice rose until he was almost shouting and my hands came up involuntarily to protect my sensitive eardrums.

"You will if they've decided that's who you are," I told him. I turned back to see him still on the bed, but risen to a crouch that was at once protecting his tender stomach and ready to flee if need be and his head was burrowed in his arms. My mind registered this, and at a later time decided that he had probably been abused before coming here. "It's to help you adjust to life here. Your old name stays with your old life. Your alias is how you'll be referred to here, and the staff won't call you by your old name. They just won't. And if you won't answer to Near, then you'll be disciplined for impertinence."

The boy, Near, raised his head to look at me with watery eyes. "I wanna go home." He stated. "I wanna have Momma brush my hair and hear Daisy and Brianne to sing to me. I wanna hear Papa read bedtime stories and check under the bed for monsters. I want my life back." Despite the content of his short monologue, his speech was steady and his eyes stayed on mine, tears refusing to fall.

I sighed. That all sounded really good. Someone to brush your hair out until it felt fine as silk, to have your sisters sing, probably tone deaf, but still filled with love, to actually believe the monsters under the bed were scarier than the ones who walk among us. I don't know if I ever had that innocence. My bedtime stories were either Bible verses or watered down versions of real cases. And having my hair brushed? Forget it. Whammy's may be one of the better orphanages, but from the time you walk through the door, you leave your childhood behind. We are trained to be competent, to be able to function, to thrive without human contact, connections that most people take for granted.

"You can't," I said, deciding to be blunt. "I don't know what your story is, but if your family is alive, then while you may see them on holidays… maybe….you aren't part of that anymore. And if you have no family, then you'd be doing them a favor by forgetting them. Crying over them won't help them wherever they are, and you'll just be giving yourself a handicap in the time spent grieving."

Looking back, I was a bit harsh and cynical for a child who wouldn't even be in school had I had a normal family, and I think I might have started building Near that emotional prison that he was trapped in in later years. But I was never good at hiding my emotions.

He glared at me, then the tears that had been threatening to fall spilled over. He opened his mouth, and the shrillest, loudest, God-awful scream came out. "NO! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME FORGET! I WANT MY MOMMY! I WANT MY DADDY! I WANNA GO HOME!" Suddenly, he was moving, faster than I thought possible, and he was off the bed and making for the window. I stayed still, since he was new there should be staff nearby in case something like this happened.

Exactly as planned, a man in a white uniform came into the room and grabbed Near and hauled him onto the bed. Another nurse came in with a syringe full of some medicine or another. The first man held Near down while the one with the syringe buried it in Near's arm. Immediately after the medicine was emptied into Near's arm, he went limp, as if all the fight went out of him. He was still conscious, but his eyes were unfocused and he seemed content to just lay on the bed.

The nurse with the needle turned back to me, and I saw that it was Nurse Alice, one of the staff assigned to the new kids. "Matt, it looks like Near is suffering from an anxiety attack. Do you know what triggered this?"

I shook my head. If I said anything, then I would get in trouble for provoking the boy.

"Matt," Nurse Alice said gently, "Near's new and if you know anything about what set him off, that would help us out. Do you know what could have triggered his episode?"

I looked down at the floor. "He said that he missed his family, and I told him that he should forget about them. That might have had something to do with it. It's not my fault he's such a whiny brat. He trashed my stuff!" I added petulantly. "I don't think he belongs here. I want my room back." I folded my arms in what I thought was an intimidating gesture, after all, I'd seen B send staff running with no more effort, but in all seriousness, simply looked like I was pouting.

"Matt, please, you agreed to try this for a week. It hasn't even been an hour, and already you want to renege on your promise?" I heard Whammy say from the hall.

Once again, I found the two square feet directly beneath me fascinating. "I don't want to, he's making me. He'll probably have nightmares and wake me up in the middle of the night. And he'll run away and I'll get in trouble for it, and he wrecked my room. I don't like him." With that pronouncement, I turned and walked out of the room.

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A/N: I know that Near is acting a little un-Nearish, but there is a reason. Thanks go out to my two reviewers, and thanks to all those who read and don't review. Next chapter may be a little late due to adjusting my writing schedule and homework and classes.


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry for the months long hiatus. Here's a run-down of what happened. I started a creative writing class this last semester, and my teacher frowned on me turning in fanfiction for my assignments. So I started writing original fiction. Then, I did NaNoWriMo, using my original fiction characters, and that completely fried my brain. I couldn't even think about writing anything, either fanfiction or my novel. I just started a new semester in college, and of course, now the plot bunnies make their presence known.

So, without further ado, here is the next chapter:

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Chapter 3: Reconciliation

I had walked out of my room, _our_ room, I guess now, and was navigating the halls of the orphanage without really seeing anything. Finally, I found myself in the library. The library was arranged in such a way that the bookshelves divided the room into smaller study areas, and the students in the library never took any notice of anyone else. The library was a study space, a resource area that is to be used as such. There are play rooms, and the common areas with TVs and such, but the library always has been, and most likely always will be, a quiet study space. Seriously, the house could be on fire, and no one would notice the alarm as more than an annoyance.

I went to the back of the library and pulled random books off of the shelves and built a little "fortress of solitude" around myself. If another student saw me, he (or she) would only see a studious kid. I would have peace to think. Normally, my room would suffice, but _that_ was now occupied by an interloper, and my nice solitude would now be at a premium. I spent most of the day there, throwing my temper tantrum (though I wouldn't call it that), but I did take some time to look through some of the books scattered around me, which is how L found me later in the evening.

"Matt missed lunch and dinner today."

I looked up from the book I was skimming to see L peering at me. "Not hungry," I muttered, and raised the book to my face again.

"Matt is a growing boy," L remarked, taking hold of the book and lowering it so he could look at me, "who needs to eat regular meals."

"You don't," I muttered petulantly. "L is a growing boy who also needs a balanced diet," I said, mimicking L's manner of speaking.

"L takes vitamin supplements to meet the necessary dietary requirements," L retorted, falling into the familiar pattern of defending his eating habits. As a Successor, L didn't have to follow most of the house rules, including the dietary ones. In order to keep him healthy, however, L had to constantly take vitamin supplements to make up for the fact that he ate nothing but sugar. "Why is Matt hiding in the library?" he asked, pulling the conversation back to the original tread.

I glared at him behind the book. I had since spent my anger, but my pride wouldn't let me go slinking back to the room. "Why do you care?" I asked. "Aren't you enamored with the new boy, too? Why do you care about me?"

"Matt thinks that Near's arrival means that Matt is no longer important." I couldn't tell if the statement was a question or not.

"No." My refusal was immediate. "It's not that… I don't think." I looked down at the book in my lap, as if it held all the answers in the world. "He wrecked my room."

"Near will not replace Matt," L said. "Near can make his own place at Whammy's without displacing Matt. Matt does not have to fear Near replacing him. Matt should realize that all of the new children are monitored until they show that they are comfortable here."

"I know!" I exclaimed. "But he stole my room. And he wrecked my room. I don't want to be with someone who can't respect my stuff."

"Matt has been at Whammy's longer than most people," L said. "Matt can help Near get adjusted to his new life."

"That's what Whammy said. He said that he hoped I would help him adjust. But I can't if he doesn't want to." I closed the book still on my lap and set it aside, putting aside the last barrier between L and I. "He wrecked my room. Just my side. My bed, my books, my clothes. _His_ side of the room was pristine, but all of my stuff was thrown around deliberately. He doesn't want to be here as much as I don't want him here."

"Matt must try to understand Near's side of it. Near is in a new place with nothing familiar to cling to. Near is acting out, trying to test the boundaries and rules of this new place. Matt must show Near what is expected of him and be a role model for Near."

"You think I'm being childish."

"Matt _is_ a child," L said in a calm voice.

"Fine." I stood up and started putting the books back on the shelves I had removed them from. "I'll give this thing another chance."

"That is a wise decision."

L helped me put the books back on the shelves and walked me back to my room. Near was still laying on the bed, but his body position suggested that he was simply sleeping rather than in a drug induced state of semi- or unconsciousness.

"Is Matt truly not hungry or is Matt simply being childish?" L asked me.

Now that he mentioned it, I did feel kind of hungry. "I could eat," I admitted.

"I will see if I can get something from the kitchen to make up for Matt's missed meal," he said, and left.

When L had left, I went to work putting the room to rights. I was in the middle of putting my clothes back in the drawers when Near had his fit, so I finished that, and then started working on the books. I noticed there were loose pages on the floor, so I flipped through every book and the ones with pages missing went off to the side, but the ones that didn't got put back on the shelf. I checked to see if the pens that had been uncapped still worked, and made my bed.

While I was fixing the damage that Near had done, L had come in and put a plate of food on my desk. After I was done, I sat on my bed and started eating.

While I was eating, Near woke up. He looked at me, and at the food. I remembered what L said about Near not being comfortable here, and said, "Are you hungry? I can't eat all of this myself."

It wasn't exactly a lie. L had given me too much food, and he expected me to eat all of it. Well, Near hadn't had anything to eat all day either, so he must be hungry as well.

He nodded, and I took the plate over to his bed.

"Sorry, there's only one plate and one set of silverware. You can have the rest, though," I told him.

When I handed him the plate, he snatched it from me and turned his back to me. He was eating quickly, as if he was afraid the food would be taken away from him.

While he was eating, I decided that another apology was in order. "I'm sorry about snapping at you earlier." When he turned around and looked at me, I continued, "I'm sorry about saying all that stuff to you. You don't have to forget everything. You're probably going to have a couple of days to get settled, and I'm supposed to be helping you adjust, not antagonizing you. Here, let's start over." I held out my hand to him. "I'm Matt, and I'm your roommate. If you have any questions, ask me, and I'll help you out. If I don't know, then I'll know who would know."

By the end of my impromptu speech, Near had finished eating and was staring at me again. I really wish he wouldn't do that, it really freaks me out. There was a moment of silence before he spoke.

"I'm sorry." His voice was soft and hesitant, as if he wasn't sure about what he was saying. "I'm sorry about reacting that way. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I shouldn't have tried to run away. Am I in trouble?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Nah, they understand that you need time to get settled in. Just…" I hesitated, before bringing up what happened before, "don't try to jump out the window. We're on the second story, and you might hurt yourself. They're pretty lenient with the new kids, but one thing that's absolutely off-limits is self-harm. They're really strict about not hurting yourself."

"What's lenient mean?" He asked.

"It means that they'll let you off easy if you break any rules this first week or so. After that, they expect you to know the rules, and if you don't, well," I shrugged, "ignorance of the rules is no excuse for breaking them."

TBC...

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A/N: I don't want to sound like I'm begging for reviews, but I do want to know whether ya'll think. Even if it's a "Good job" or a "you suck", that's all good. Granted, I like the former better than the latter, but all criticism will be welcomed.


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